Artists

untitled (Robin M)

Naftali
TEXT OF HANDWRITTEN NOTE: Can you guess what all these artefacts have in common?

Alicia

Robin M
TEXT: COLLECTING SEA GLASS
I go straight to the North Sea, it shines in blue fragments through the houses. The bay is a crescent shape and the houses form a rim around it. I sink my feet into the cold, soaking sand. The tide is out and I walk between the bands of debris. All of it is coaxed to the surface by outgoing tides. Footprints hold shape for only a moment before quivering back.I am searching for glass and pieces of dishes—white porcelain etched with cobalt blue. Caught in the sane and bludgeoned by the waves, the glass has been worn smooth.
I find a shard of china. This could have been a teacup once. Its blade-like edge has been filed down. I drop it into my full pocket and it clinks with the others.
There could be hundreds of cups and saucers and bottles under this sand that will never be found. the sand encases all these remnants of people probably long gone. Salt water takes the polish off the china, but not the echoes of finger prints. The tide is coming into lap up my footprints, they will flatten under the ripples and it will be once more like I was never here.
At home I empty my findings onto the floor and try to fit the pieces of glass and china back into jars and cups. Everything is an almost-match. After enough years of collecting, maybe I’ll be able to make a whole set of china and a whole pantry full of patchwork jars.